ETHICS
kingdom, there are
Professionalism
"the conduct, aims, or qualities that
characterize or mark
a profession or a professional person;
"a calling requiring specialized
knowledge and often long
and intensive academic preparation."
Attributes/ Specialized knowledge.
1. Specialized Knowledge
2. Competency
3. Honesty and Integrity
4. Accountability
5. Self-Regulation
6. Looking the Part
How to Exhibit Professionalism:
1. Build Expertise
2. Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
3. Honor Your Commitments
4. Don't make excuses
5. Be Polite
6. Have the Tools You Need
A brief history of ethics:
1. Natural Behavior
Even when observing the animal
clear signs of rules of behavior.
2. Human Behavior
Has been observed from the earliest
recorded data and
anthropological and archeological
studies have indicated
that all primitive tribes have very definite
rules of
behavior.
3. Mythology
Arose out of the need to regulate society
and thiswas
much easier to do when the stories were
fascinating and
the members of the community could
identify with the
mythological characters.
4. Codes of Conduct
Examples throughout history are: the
„Golden Rule‟, the
„Five Precepts‟ and
the „Noble Eightfold Path‟ of Buddhism,
the Egyptian
code of Ma‟at, and the „Ten
Commandments‟ of Judaism, especially in times of moral dilemmas or
Christianity and Islam. confusions.

5. From Ancient Greece to the Modern Three schools of thought:

Era
- teleological ethics,
Ancient Greece was the birthplace of
Western - deontological ethics

philosophical ethics, moral precepts - Virtue ethics.

from the 7th and
Teleological ethics
6th centuries BCE. Names like
State that those actions are ethical
Socrates, Plato and
which lead to the
Aristotle have become household
right ends
names.
Deontological ethics
DIMENSIONS OF ETHICS:
State that those actions are ethical
Ethics
where the means
-is a system of moral principles derived
used are right
from Greek word
Virtue ethics
“ethos” which means habit or character.
State that those actions are ethical
- identifying and building principles of
which are in line with
right or wrong
certain virtues (desirable traits).
conduct.
Meta ethics
- a system of rules widely accepted by
the society. These theories deal with the very basic
idea of ethics.
- can also be called public morality.
APPLIED DIMENSIONS:
THEORETICAL DIMENSIONS
Bio-ethics
1. Normative/Prescriptive ethics
studies ethical issues in the field of
Theories that prescribe what is the right
human biology and
thing to do,
biotechnology.
Privacy unethical act, as it is artificially done.

Biomedical studies and gathering of Intellectual property rights:

data must respect
Every innovator should be entitled to the
the privacy of individuals as it deals with rights over
private
their intellectual property due to the
sensitive medical information about immense time and
them.
effort spent in developing the item.
Bio-piracy
Gene editing:
Advanced countries and their innovators
carry out Gene editing alters the gene of a living
being to achieve
exploration and gathering of biological
resources (such desired traits.

as DNA, leaves, tissues etc) from Clinical trials:

developing countries in
Clinical trials carry out experiments upon
the tropical region (having higher people by
biodiversity), for
offering money.
commercial purposes.
MEDICAL ETHICS:
Abortion
End of life care:
The act of abortion is highly debated
Interventions such as life support are
with respect to its
required to keep a
ethicality.
person alive when he/she is brain dead
Cloning or have zero

Cloning is a highly advanced science chance of recovery.

which can be used
Informed Consent:
on humans, animals, plants, microbes
Patients should be provided complete
etc. Bio-medical
information about
ethics has accepted worldwide that
the procedure they are about to undergo
cloning is a risky and
and consent
should follow based on true and a patient with honesty and commitment
complete information. irrespective of

Attachment with patient: patient’s identity or background, even if

the patient is a
It is prescribed by medical ethics that a
doctor is better criminal.

off by not developing emotional MEDIA ETHICS:

attachment with a
Independence
patient whom he has to scientifically
treat. Media channels (print or electronic or
digital) must be
Euthanasia:
independent of the government and not
The moral acceptability of euthanasia have any
varies with place
political allegiance.
and time. It involves the serious ethical
issue of whether Objectivity:

it is right to end a human life deliberately Reports of media personnel should be

in case of based on facts

serious irreversible suffering. and not personal bias or prejudice.

Media must report all
Prescription
information from across the spectrum of
Doctors must ensure that they prescribe opinion.
the most
Sensationalism:
available, accessible, affordable and
effective medicines The media’s role in a democracy is to
provide the people
to the patients, basically generic drugs
instead of with information in its purest form using
which the
expensive patented drugs
people can make informed decisions.
Patient identity
Editorial independence
Professional ethics in medicine mandate
doctors to treat Media outlets are commercial
enterprises and need
money to sustain themselves. a manner that the future generations
and weaker
Ownership:
sections have enough to fulfil their
Media entities must avoid concentrated genuine needs.
ownership,
Compensation:
especially in the hands of vested
interests like politicians, Basic economic and domestic activities
consume
businessmen and so on.
resources or pollute the nature but they
Responsibility are essential for
While reporting news, especially live development.
reporting, media
Conservation:
professionals must ensure that their
coverage does not Every possible effort shall be taken to
eliminate or
harm larger public interest.
minimize environmental pollution.
Accountability:
Equity:
Media should also account for its
mistakes and take Mother nature belongs to all living
beings equally.
adequate action to remedy the wrongs.
Rights:
Means to obtain information:
All living beings have their own rights to
Right means should be used to obtain life and
information and
existence. Other living beings are not
the privacy, dignity, trust etc. should be meant for humans
maintained.
to consume or exploit.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS:
Mother nature:
Sustainability:
Environmentalists believe that ‘nature
The environment and its resources must knows best’.
be used in such
BUSINESS ETHICS
Transparency: welfare of the society around them.

Business entities must ensure openness Worker rights:

in their
Since industries use labor to generate
functioning and share all information output and profits,
with their
they are bound to guarantee basic rights
stakeholders. and facilities

Conflicts of interest: for the workers so that they get humane

conditions of
Business professionals must function in
an objective and work.

fair manner regardless of any private Accountability:

interest or
Business entities, particularly large
personal obligation. corporations must

Integrity: hold themselves accountable to their

stakeholders as
Absolute adherence to moral principles
is necessary for they use huge amounts of public money
and resources.
sustained health of any business.
Gender equality: In a patriarchal society,
Environmental sustainability: companies

Industries must carry out their have the responsibility to act as torch
operations such that they bearers and set

do not degrade the environment beyond examples for gender equality and justice
repair and through policies

recovery. like equal work for equal pay, maternity

leave, antisexual harassment bodies
Social responsibility:
and so on.
Businesses make profits and hence,
ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS
have a moral
Transparency:
obligation to contribute a reasonable
share for the
Administration must not only adhere to needs.
transparency
Dedication to public service:
laws but must also voluntarily disclose
all information to Governance in a democracy involves
many challenges
the public so that corruption and mala
fide decisions are and pressures and hence, requires
utmost dedication on
prevented and public knows the true
picture of the the part of civil servants so that they can
strive to serve
government.
the people despite the challenges.
Integrity:
Impartiality: Civil servants should treat
Integrity is often called the value of everyone
values. It demands
equally regardless of their religion,
that administrators must strongly and class, caste This is
uncompromisingly
essential for rule of law and maintains
uphold the values of civil service. people’s faith in

Objectivity: democracy.

Civil servants must take decisions in an CYBER ETHICS:

objective manner
based only on facts and logic without the
undue
influence of bias or prejudice.
Obeying the law: Users of the internet
must abide by
the law of the land and not use internet
for illegal

Compassion: activities such as hacking, defrauding,

stalking,
In an underdeveloped country with
widespread poverty harassing

and hunger, civil servants must show Intellectual property rights:

compassion
Content created online is often protected
towards the weaker sections in order to by copyrights
fulfil their
which must be respected by other users.
Privacy:
Despite availability of modern
technology like mass
surveillance, spyware etc. users must
respect each
other’s privacy and dignity.
Respect:
Users are expected to show basic
respect and courtesy
in their behavior online so as to provide
a healthy and
stable environment to all.
Public decency:
Since internet is a public platform, users
must ensure
that their content is decent and
appropriate for all
audience including children.
Honesty:
User as well as platforms must create
and share only
true, complete and accurate information.
NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES:
Normative ethical theories
the word ‘normative’ is an adjective
which comes from
the word ‘norm’, which means a
‘standard’, or a ‘rule’, so
moral norms are standards or principles
with which
people are expected to comply.
-Deontological
The word ‘deontological’ comes from the
Greek deon,
meaning ‘obligation’, ‘necessity’, ‘that
which is binding’.
-Consequential
Consequentialist theories of ethics hold
that the moral
worth of an action should be judged by
its
consequences.
-Teleological
‘Teleological’ derives from the Greek
word telos,
meaning ‘end’, ‘goal’, or ‘purpose’.
Character-based
You will have noticed that deontological
and
consequentialist theories are act-
centered – we judge
that specific acts are good or bad, right
or wrong.
THE FOUR-FOLD DIVISION OF LAW
Eternal Law holds that there are certain moral rules
and that it can
THIS refers to law which comes from
God’s nature as never be right to go against these rules
unless there is a
the Creator.
proportionate reason which would justify
Divine law it.

These principles of natural and moral

order are revealed

to humans through the divine law, which

can be found:

Natural moral law

The natural moral order is articulated /

worked out in

detail through human reason and not

through revelation.

Human law Through understanding

natural moral law,

we can then formulate human laws, for

example, those

which appear in our legal systems.

CONTRACTUALISM

The term ‘contractualism’ can be used in

a broad

sense—to indicate the view that morality

is based on

contract or agreement—or in a narrow

sense—to refer to

a particular view

PROPORTIONALISM